Posts Tagged ‘Bishop Eddie Long’

When we see people, we see them (in my point of view) from one of two perspectives: we see them as they present themselves to us or as we see through our own experiences (or we see them as we want them to be). Rarely, we see the experiences, pain, struggles, highs, joys, successes, failures that all help to make the individual unique. I believe we are a sum of our experiences, and it is up to us to decide how to allow those experiences to shape our lives.

For CNN anchor Don Lemon, being a victim of a pedophile, I would imagine, was a painful hurdle to conquer. Yet, he saw an opportunity to discuss a subject that is difficult and somewhat taboo: sexual abuse within the African American community. According to a 2004 JET article author Robin D. Stone discussed her book No Secrets, No Lies: How Black Families can Heal from Sexual Abuse. And in that article Stone revealed that “I learned from my own experience, and from interviewing more than 30 survivors, parents and partners, that we don’t talk about sexual violation when it happens in our families for a host of reasons, including wanting to keep ‘business’ to ourselves, and not wanting to get the police or social services involved.”

Lemon said that he did not admit to his mother that he was a victim until the age of 30; and he never admitted it on air prior to this weekend. Apparently, the anchor had no intentions of mentioning this on air until an interview with 3 Bishop Eddie Long supporters. Within the past week, mega preacher Eddie Long has been sued by four men “who claim in lawsuits that Long abused his clerical authority to lure and coerce them into having sex with him.”

While Bishop Long continues to fight these allegations, many questions still come to the surface: how prevalent is sexual abuse within the African American community? Moreover, what about abuse to African American boys? How does abuse impact sexual identity? Unfortunately, a scandal, four separate lawsuits are now forcing many within the African American community to discuss this very issue.